The build deletes it. vite clears outDir (emptyOutDir: true), and that file is
the only reason //go:embed all:dist compiles in a fresh clone - without it a
clone that has not run a frontend build cannot run go build at all.
Found because it happened: a pnpm build during the transcode work removed the
tracked file, and it showed up as a deletion waiting to be committed. A
developer who ran a build and then staged everything would have broken every
clone silently, and the symptom would appear on someone else's machine.
The build now regenerates it, with the explanation in the file itself so the
next person to see it knows what it is for.
Docs
- docs/ARCHITECTURE.md: how the pieces fit and why. The request path, the six
enforced layers, the data model, the scanner, the job queue, direct-play
playback, and the three protocol surfaces over one application.
- docs/decisions/: seven ADRs with the alternatives that were rejected —
SQLite-with-a-seam, direct-play-only, mark-missing-never-delete, the modular
monolith, the one item-access chokepoint, the table-backed queue, and
fixed-width timestamps.
- README: the layout section was stale (it predated catalog, home, scanner,
providers, engine, probe, playback, apitoken, arch and the dto packages) and
now lists what exists, plus links to the new docs.
Two real bugs, both found by verifying the docs instead of trusting them
1. The CLI could not run on a fresh install. `Config.Validate` created the data
and config directories, but the CLI never called it, so `vellum user add` —
the recovery path when you are locked out — failed with "unable to open
database file" until the server had booted at least once. Split the directory
creation into `Config.EnsureDirs`, call it from the CLI, and keep the media
root check out of it: an admin command must not fail because a library is
unmounted. The CLI tests now point DBPath inside DataDir, exactly as
LoadConfig derives it, so they exercise the fresh-install path; removing
EnsureDirs fails three of them.
2. A fresh clone could not build at all. `//go:embed all:dist` fails to compile
when web/dist is absent, and web/.gitignore expected a `dist/.gitkeep` that
was never created. Added it, so a clone builds and the server logs
"web UI not embedded; run the frontend build to include it" — the intended
behaviour for someone who only wants the API.
Also: the httpapi tests depended on a built frontend and FAILED rather than
skipping, so the suite was red on any fresh clone. findAsset and readAsset now
skip with a message naming the missing step. They still RUN when a bundle is
present (verified: zero skips here), so they have not been quietly disabled.
Verified from a simulated clone of tracked files only: go build exit 0, 25
packages pass, the server boots and applies all 12 migrations, and the CLI
creates a user and takes a backup. gofmt clean, vet exit 0, svelte-check 0/0.
- comics: reads pages straight out of the archive on demand. No extraction
pass, so a 200-page CBZ is not materialised for a reader who views three
pages. Pages are read into memory and served via http.ServeContent, which
gives Range for free.
- natural page ordering: page2 sorts before page10. Lexical ordering shuffles
a numbered archive, which is the difference between a readable book and a
scrambled one.
- skips __MACOSX and dotfiles; rejects archives with no images.
- cover is the first page.
- media.Item gained ModTime (from the backing file) so page responses carry a
Last-Modified and support conditional GETs.
- web: ComicReader with a bounded prefetch window (two pages each way), page
jump, keyboard nav, and progress stored as a page number.
Verified: 3-page CBZ served in natural order, out-of-range 404, cover from
page 1, progress round-trip. svelte-check 0/0.
The frontend the app needs to be usable at all.
- web/: Svelte 5 + Vite + TypeScript SPA. Login, app shell with per-type nav,
library list/create/scan/delete, item grid with covers, admin user
management, and an epub.js reader that syncs progress.
- Reader resumes by spine index — an integer — which is why the polymorphic
progress table needs no text column.
- Session state uses classic stores in a plain .ts module rather than runes in
a .svelte.ts module, avoiding special module resolution.
- Embedding: web/embed.go embeds web/dist. A committed .gitkeep keeps the
directive valid before the frontend is built, so `go build ./...` never
fails. Unknown non-API paths serve index.html for client routes; /api/* and
/healthz always return JSON and never fall back to HTML.
- Dockerfile builds the UI in a node stage and overlays dist into the Go stage.
- pnpm 12 needs allowBuilds in pnpm-workspace.yaml; esbuild approved, the two
unused transitive scripts explicitly denied so install exits 0.
svelte-check: 0 errors, 0 warnings. Verified served: SPA shell at /, route
fallback, hashed asset, and JSON 404 on /api/*.
